Using loans effectively in SimCity 4000

Contributor/author(s): Ze

As everyone knows, the financial system in SimCity 4 is completely different from all previous versions. Every civic building, along with its benefits, provides a continuous monthly expense. In short, making money is much more difficult and time-consuming.

Loans are often seen as a method of letting your city survive for a few more years when you're dangerously running into the red. They increase the monthly expenditures, therefore pushing you even further to the red, of which you want to get out of, so you borrow some more money and you have a bigger outcome, and so on...

Because of this, some people think loans are useless. However, if used properly, they can be really effective and allow your city to grow faster. How? It's simple.

Imagine you get §1,000 per month. That's §12,000 per year. Not bad, but an average-sized high density zone can cost about §50,000 or more. So you can either wait for four game years, which can be a really long time if your city is large or your computer is slow, or you can... Yes, get a loan! A §50,000 loan has a monthly cost of §619, so you would be left with §381 per month.

You'd still stay in the black and you would be able to build the zone you wanted, resulting in a further income. Probably, by the time your loan got paid, you would be making more than §1,000 a month, and you now had again those extra §619, which meant you could now be making §2,000 monthly, besides having a more developed city.

Of course, this is theoretical only. Should anything go wrong, you would be facing a city with low cash and a low or negative income. The loans need to be planned. For example, don't adventure yourself on borrowing some money if you feel that in order to crate more zoning, you need a new power plant.

Also, unless you are having a huge revenue, do not ask for a loan to build infrastructures. These raise your monthly expense and are costly to build, so your city could easily go to the red.

In conclusion, my tips are as follows:

• Get a loan if you have a moderate and consistant income.
• Plan your loans, check if you need services in the furure and control your incomes and expenses accordingly.
• Do not use loans to build infrastrucutres, unless you are positively sure that your city will be able to cope with it.

See also
Mid-game tips
Money & Budgeting : Staying in the Black